Moore, Aderholt, Strong, and Palmer comment on their votes against $1 trillion spending package

On Friday Congressmen Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville), Dale Strong (R-Huntsville), and Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) voted against a bipartisan spending bill to keep the government funded. All six of Alabama’s House Republicans voted against the compromise measure. The 1,012-page, $1.2 trillion spending package was crafted on a bipartisan basis between the House leadership, the leadership of the Senate, and the Biden White House. It has passed both Houses and has been sent to the President’s desk.

Opponents of the legislation pointed out that the text of this legislation was released at 2:00 AM on Thursday, giving members little more than 24 hours to review it before voting on Friday. House Democrats praised this legislation, but House conservatives blasted the funding bill for not including H.R.2 provisions to secure the southern border. Including H.R.2 would be a provision that congressional Democrats would never support, and which President Joseph R. Biden (D) would veto if it did ever manage to get to his desk.

"Many Americans are talking about March madness on the basketball court, but the real madness is happening in Congress,” said Moore. "Members had 24 hours to review a thousand-page bill that spends $1 trillion of Americans' hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and it's no wonder Democrats' are celebrating the bill's passage. This legislation includes no true border security provisions and continues to fund the same woke, weaponized, and wasteful spending that puts America last.”

“I voted no,” said Aderholt on X. “Senate Democrats chocked this funding bill full of woke easter eggs that incentivize people coming into our country illegally, direct tax dollars to abortion centers and funds youth centers that encourage gender transitions for minors behind their parents' backs.”

“When Republicans took the majority, we promised the American people that we would change the way Washington does business by providing 72 hours to review legislation, and that we would eliminate reckless spending that solely advances a liberal social agenda,” Strong said in a statement on X. “Chuck Schumer and President Biden ignored the majority of the American people by stripping out House passed provisions to secure our southern border and get a handle on our illegal immigration crisis, while at the same time adding earmarks to advance the Democrats woke liberal agenda, including funding abortion facilities, LGBTQ indoctrination, and benefits for the millions of illegal immigrants pouring through the border.”

Following his vote against the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY24, Rep. Palmer released a statement explaining his vote.

“This legislation is just another example of an appropriations process that is broken. Sadly, there is no real desire to fix the process so that we pass transparent appropriations bills before the required June 30th deadline,” said Rep. Palmer. “In order to restore fiscal responsibility, we must focus on passing twelve appropriations bills on time instead of being forced to fiscal cliff after fiscal cliff.”

“This is not the bill that my subcommittee produced and supported,” Aderholt said. “The Senate has taken liberties with their Congressionally Directed Spending requests that would never stand in the House.”

Rep. Terri Sewell was the only member of the Alabama Congressional delegation to vote in favor of the bill.

Moore said that the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act:

• Fails to secure our southern border by excluding H.R.2 provisions

• Includes $200 million for a brand new FBI headquarters

• Funds the World Health Organization, who lied to the world about COVID-19

• Provides an additional $300 million to Ukraine

• Provides $19.6 billion for the Department of Homeland Security to process more illegal aliens

• Continues to fund diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Department of Defense

• Provides $200 million to the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund, which lists one of their priorities as "green jobs and resistance to climate change"

• Provides $400,000 for a "gender affirming clothing program" in Wisconsin

• Provides $1.8 million to a hospital in Rhode Island that performs abortions

A partial government shutdown was avoided when the Senate went into a late session to pass the bill. That happened in the early Hours on Saturday morning. The bill now goes to the President’s desk where he is expected to sign it.

This effectively ends six months of partisan rancor and internal Republican strife that saw Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-California) removed as Speaker and eventually replaced with Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana). There are little, if any, tangible differences in the final 2024 budget than the one under consideration then. The federal budget deficit is $1.793 trillion and the national debt is $35.592 trillion and there does not appear to be any consensus on returning the U.S. into a more fiscally responsible position.

“34 TRILLION in debt and a wide-open border, and @JoeBiden wants to borrow MORE MONEY from China to secure someone else’s border with no end in sight,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama).

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